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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24618379">What's In A Name?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialTitania/pseuds/CelestialTitania'>CelestialTitania</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fairy Tail</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Childhood, Fluff, For the most part, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:08:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24618379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialTitania/pseuds/CelestialTitania</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All Gray wanted was a fight. How was he to challenge her though if he didn't even know her name?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gray Fullbuster/Erza Scarlet, slight Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What's In A Name?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A short fic I never got around to posting, about Gray and Erza's childhood days. Set sometime after Erza joined the guild but before everyone else did too.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gray sat moodily on one of the benches of the guildhall staring at a certain girl, while Cana shook her head at him and practiced her magic. Said girl ignored him, as she happily devoured a large piece of strawberry cheesecake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ah, cake really is the best," she sighed dreamily. “The tart strawberry, the creamy cheese, and the crust crumbles in your mouth!” Erza gushed, as she practically inhaled the cake in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gray scowled at her. Ever since she'd discovered Magnolia's bakery, she'd rather eat cake then fight with him. </span>
  <span>It was an everyday occurrence now. Where’d she even get the money to be buying this many cakes? He hardly ever saw her go on missions. </span>
  <span>Still Erza had to be the Magnolia bakery’s number one customer at this point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gray wanted to yell her name to challenge her, this time sure he could beat her. He was going to challenge her, nothing was going to stop him. </span>
  <span>Gray walked towards her and opened his mouth to yell at Erza to fight him already.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"ER-," He stopped. What was her full name again? Just yelling Erza wasn’t good enough for him. Gray had to use her full name to be taken seriously. He stopped and racked his brain trying to remember her last name, face scrunched up and brows furrowed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unbeknownst to him, at the sound of the start of her name, Erza had finally looked away from her cake. She bit back a laugh, seeing the expression on the ice mage's face. It seemed to her that lately, all Gray did was make her laugh. Who knew that the underpants wearing, big-headed kid who used to annoy her so much would end up becoming such a good friend? Her mirth vanished a second later though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gray took a deep breath, sure Erza was going to kill him for forgetting her name but still, he had to ask. Better now than later anyways. "Hey Erza, what's your name?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Erza blinked at him, unable to comprehend the question. "You just said it, idiot."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I mean your full name. Like I'm Gray Fullbuster. What's your name?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The question took her back to a small, dingy cell, with others asking her the same question. When she had no name to call her own. Setting down her cake, she took a moment to compose herself. She noticed Gray lean in, now extremely curious to find out what her name was. Well if he wanted to know so badly Erza would tell him. After all she did have a name and she was proud of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Erza Scarlet," she declared, her back straight and head held high.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Scarlet,” Gray mused, seeming deep in thought. “That’s a strange name,” he commented. Erza glowered at him but before she could punch him for insulting her, he grinned and kept talking. “It’s the same as the colour of your hair!" Gray pounded his fist into his open palm, sounding like he'd had a true epiphany.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Erza was glad she'd put the cake down, otherwise it'd have toppled to the floor. A little blue haired boy with a tattoo on his face flashed before her eyes saying similar words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Now I'll never forget," Gray was saying happily. Erza swallowed the lump in her throat, doing her best to prevent tears from welling up in her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ehhh Scarlet? That's so pretty," Cana said loudly from her seat, looking up from her cards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Suits her," Macao agreed, as he and Wakaba laughed amicably. Master silently toasted his mug to her,  and smiled, before continuing to drink. Pretty soon the whole guild was telling Erza how pretty her name is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even Laxus stopped listening to his music long enough to give her a smirk of approval. </span>
  <span>When Gray and his grandfather gave him curious glances though, he immediately sneered and walked off moodily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Erza was unable to appreciate any of it, being far too captivated by memories of the past. </span>
  <span> Of a certain someone she kept hidden away in the depths of her heart. Someone who was lost to her now. Gray turned back to Erza and stared at her tense shoulders, saw her closing in on herself and just...reacted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Erza Scarlet then. FIGHT ME!" He pounced, launching head first towards her. Erza started seeing him falling towards her before her instincts kicked in and she jumped away before he landed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she retaliated with a swift roundhouse kick. Gray fell backwards, but he was already getting up, ready for more. The others complained, as tables were knocked over and chairs went flying, but he saw a light in Erza's eyes that had nearly been extinguished. </span>
  <span>Gray didn’t know why and he didn’t care. So long as Erza stayed happy that’s all that mattered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled and began fighting back in earnest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled back, her scarlet hair swinging wildly from its braid.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed. You can also find me on tumblr as celestialtitania!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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